Over the past week I've become intimately familiar with the virtual life of a geeky tech-industry maven named Jess, who I gave wide, swishy hips and a sly smirk. As of this writing, she has completed the level 10 programming skill, felt sad once and happy 232 times, WooHooed only nine times, and had...

Build Mode improved; Great emotions; Strong Create-a-Sim

Frequent loading; Lacks content

As such, it was obvious that for The Sims 4, the next major installment in the series, the two companies had to pull off something special that felt like it wasn't a skeleton for the many expansions set to appear down the line.

+Stellar visuals and animations; +Smarter Sims; +Better interactions; +Simple yet comprehensive Create-A-Sim and Build Mode

-Plenty of missing mechanics or systems; -Soundtrack is sometimes a bit too generic; -Quite a few bugs and glitches

The Sims 4 is immediately flawed if you're looking for an open pool for your Sim on fire to dive in or to get your toddler Sim to start crying and draw attention to the house fire, but for most of the other aspects of the game, The Sims 4 is still pretty much what it is. Mostly.

It's an all new Sims game with its share of gameplay improvements; Sims come more alive than ever before; The variety of emotions are reflected in your Sims' actions

The new features and improvements doesn't gloss over all of its "missing" features; Limitations in creating your own style down to a T without Create-A-Style

Control-shift-C-"motherlode." It's a series of commands that every Sims player knows, the one that infuses your bank account with precious simoleans for buying the fanciest lamps, laying the plushest carpet, and landscaping with the most impressive of shrubbery.

Colorful visuals and fantastic audio make watching your sims a joy; The core build and buy tools are both robust and accessible; Moods and multitasking lead to hilarious sim actions

Cramped structure limits personal stories and restrains multi-sim control; Far too many series features have been frustratingly pruned or removed

The Sims 4 had very large shoes to create, design, and fill. The series has improved with each iteration, spanned countless expansions, and staved off changes that altered the core of the game. Until now. As a game outside of the Sims franchise, Sims 4 would be a pretty good game.

" The Sims 4 " is the same game you've been playing for years, because back in 2000 it launched as a complete product with an established idea. Realistically, there's few places the series could really go from its first outing, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

How does The Sims 4 measure in the grand scheme of things? It's an excellent stepping stone for what could be moving forward, although this comes at the cost of numerous add-ons and expansions raiding our pockets.

Since the original The Sims came out in 2000, the Sims series has become one of the most successful game franchises I can think of. I say this not only because hundreds of millions of copies of Sims games have been sold in countries around the world, but because it's one of the few games that I can...

The Sims 4 is the newest release for The Sims franchise from developer The Sims Studio and publisher EA. The new release arrives roughly five years after its predecessor and packs plenty of new features and enhancements for the franchise.

Concept: Tweak The Sims' formula by adding new layers, such as emotions and multitasking Graphics: A graphical overhaul makes sims more expressive. They look the best they ever have Sound: Some of the sound effects, especially the ones indicating mood changes, are excessive.